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My argument is not that. My argument is that you feed bread, rice and meat to a starving person. Not cake and pizza. The first requirement to improve students'

My argument is not that. My argument is that you feed bread, rice and meat to a starving person. Not cake and pizza. The first requirement to improve students' life is to ensure they have adequate books, stationery, good teachers and food. Laptops come a bit later.

cag_ii 9y ago
You're conflating two different problems. OLPC was never meant to replace food (or other necessities). Additionally, having a dictionary, spell checker and encyclopedia at your fingertips make a laptop a great addition to a classroom.
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  It was meant to be an analogy.
shafyy 9y ago
I don't think anyone seriously argues that kids should receive laptops over food. But your argument is exactly that: You're implying that books and pencils are more important for education than "high"-tech. Do you really think having a pencil, textbook and a notepad is more important than having access to the internet with countless, excellent free resources of education (e.g. Khan Academy).
dingaling 9y ago
Books, stationery; need to be stored properly to protect them from climate and insects. Need to be protected from unscrupulous adults who desire fire tinder. Solar-charged laptops can be weather-sealed and are much less useful for unintended destructive uses.
- tropo 9y ago
  The OLPC XO-1 was very effective for extremely destructive uses. When the US military was trying to put Iraq and Afghanistan back together, someone there approached OLPC about supplying the XO-1 to the kids. A huge concern was that it could be turned into a really effective IED trigger. There is a camera to detect motion, a DC-capable audio jack for wiring in arbitrary parts, the speakers and microphone for range-finding, the resistive touchpad as a pressure sensor, and of course the WiFi for sending commands. To initiate the explosion there was an audio output jack, USB ports that could be powered on or off, and a screen backlight.

cag_ii 9y ago

You're conflating two different problems. OLPC was never meant to replace food (or other necessities). Additionally, having a dictionary, spell checker and encyclopedia at your fingertips make a laptop a great addition to a classroom.

dingo_bat 9y ago
It was meant to be an analogy.

shafyy 9y ago

I don't think anyone seriously argues that kids should receive laptops over food. But your argument is exactly that: You're implying that books and pencils are more important for education than "high"-tech. Do you really think having a pencil, textbook and a notepad is more important than having access to the internet with countless, excellent free resources of education (e.g. Khan Academy).

dingaling 9y ago

Books, stationery; need to be stored properly to protect them from climate and insects. Need to be protected from unscrupulous adults who desire fire tinder. Solar-charged laptops can be weather-sealed and are much less useful for unintended destructive uses.

tropo 9y ago
The OLPC XO-1 was very effective for extremely destructive uses. When the US military was trying to put Iraq and Afghanistan back together, someone there approached OLPC about supplying the XO-1 to the kids. A huge concern was that it could be turned into a really effective IED trigger. There is a camera to detect motion, a DC-capable audio jack for wiring in arbitrary parts, the speakers and microphone for range-finding, the resistive touchpad as a pressure sensor, and of course the WiFi for sending commands. To initiate the explosion there was an audio output jack, USB ports that could be powered on or off, and a screen backlight.